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We humans have a luxury of constantly trying to make ourselves happy. I say luxury, because we are pretty much the only species to do so. All those other suckers are busy trying to survive and reproduce. Fortunately, red meat is one of those things that makes us happy.

This may come as a surprise, as red meat has been sustaining a lot of bad press lately, mostly due to a flawed report saying it is unhealthy. Rather than diving into the flaws of that report, which has already been debunked numerous times by much better writers than myself, I would love to get into the connection between meat and happiness.

I have long noticed a relationship between meat and happiness based on how freaking happy I am when I bite into a juicy burger or steak at the end of a long (or short) day. Leave it to the Australians to prove me right, as they found “…women who consumed less than the recommended amount [of meat] were twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression or anxiety than those who regularly ate beef…” It is interesting that the study only included women, but I see no reason why the logic can’t extend to men.

There are only two issues I have with the study. First is that chicken and other non-red meats don’t seem to affect mental health. They don’t hurt it, but it is sad (no pun intended) to know they don’t especially help it either. Also, Australian meat is straight up better quality than American in that their cattle eat grass like they should and our American meat eats grains. This lower meat may not have as much of an impact on mental health as the Australian meat does, but I’m willing to bet it still makes people happier than those on foolish beef-free diets. Also, we Americans can certainly seek out grass-fed beef if we are like me and really want it.

So with all this recent negative press about red meat, it is nice to know that it really has some good benefits. If you are silly enough to believe in the bad press, you seem to have a choice between long life and happiness. But note that that happiness involves chowing down delicious meat. For all you know, you could get hit by a bus tomorrow and die prematurely anyway, so you might as well die full. But if you are like me, and think the negativity around red meat is nonsense, then there is really no choice because I get to live on with both the physical and mental health that come from consuming red meat. It’s a good life, and I plan to enjoy it for a long, long time.